Road to the Scudetto Week 7

This match day of the Serie A has a few interesting games worth following. First, Napoli will welcome Udinese to the Stadio San Paolo in Napoli. These two teams are heading in different directions in the Italian league.

Udinese, who finished third last year, have experienced a horrendous start with only one win, three draws and two losses in six games, a -3 goal differential, which allows them to be placed . Not the ideal start Francesco Guidolin was hoping for, but much expected as Udinese continue to sell some major components during transfer windows. They obviously struggle to score goals and they should start to think about the future, more importantly an adequate replacement for the aging Antonio Di Natale. However, the Bianconeri of Udine will aim to carry on their morale-boosting win in Liverpool Thursday.

Napoli is flying high so far as they are sitting in first on level points with giants Juventus. They are one of two teams that are undefeated and firing on all cylinders. Edinson Cavani is most likely going to be the cause for problems for Udinese. He has been very impressive with six goals in six matches. In addition, Hamsik and Insigne are also riding on good form right now; therefore, it’s expected that this will be a high-scoring affair. In the end, the Azzurri, although coming off a 3-0 defeat away to PSV, is expected to dominate and dictate this game especially in front of the home crowd. I don’t think it’s going to be close.

Juventus will travel to Siena to take on Siena Calcio on week 7. This is not a big game but considering the way the undefeated Juventus played in midweek against Shakhtar Donetsk at the Juventus Stadium was not the Old Lady’s usually performance. Of course, it goes without saying that Siena will probably not defeat, Juve but the Bianconeri must not ever undermine their opponents either. If somehow, Siena does pull the unthinkable here and beat Juventus, then they should be nicknamed the giant killers seeing that the Bianconeri club of Siena defeated the Nerazzurri a few weeks back. Expectations are that Juventus will continue to remain undefeated but the question is how will they do it? The easy way is by controlling the game or the hard way is handing Siena space like they did in midweek.

The biggest game of the week is certainly the Derby della Madonina between AC Milan and Inter. The Milano Derby is expected to be a big one this year and there is hope that these two sides will be relentless against each other at the San Siro.

Inter has struggled so far this year playing inconsistently under young coach Andrea Stramaccioni. There are days where the Nerazzurri look like a solid side playing in unison and then there those games that leave you scratching your head. Ex-Milan forward Antonio Cassano will aim to embarrass his former employers with some assists, possibly a few goals, and certainly some tricks.

While Inter struggle on and off, AC Milan has been struggling completely! The Rossoneri have had problems in the midfield creating and finishing plays. Lately, Stefan El Shawaary has taken over the reins in front of goal scoring 4 goals in the last 3 games. With Robinho back in the line up and the possibility of Alexandre Pato coming back, Milan is hoping to turn this disastrous season around. A draw is expected to the outcome here. Inter’s attack will probably give Milan some problems in defence and I believe Inters lack of defending will give Milan some opportunities to score as well. It should be a wide open encounter.

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